The media brainwashing America with "Sex"

Anyone think that the media is brainwashing America with sex? I do. For many years, I have seen the media spam this everywhere, but why do they do it? They do it to make money. I however believe that it is a type of poison to the country and people are digging their own graves. When I was a kid and I turned on the TV, I would always see a beautiful model all the time. Because of this, for a long time I believed that that would be what a "real woman" should look like. When I got out into the real world and I noticed some women did not look like models, this confused me a whole lot.

But I mean, it's everywhere. Commercials, games, movies, sex and models is spammed everywhere and all over the place. In my opinion, America is brainwashing themselves into a cycle of lust and pleasure, which is what is causing the high divorce rate. This is just my theory, not a fact.

Anyone want to discuss this?

The media has been using sex and sexualized images to sell sell sell for almost as long as most media has been around. I don't really agree with the term "brainwashing," because unless you are born and raised a complete shut-in, it's pretty quickly established that the real world isn't at all the way it is depicted in the media.

Sexualized images in the media does likely have some consequences, most people know that there was a lot of controversy over it causing eating disorders in young people who say the images portrayed in advertisments and on television and in movies as the "ideal" figure; but more often than not these days you see quite a number of ads marketing the idea of "real" and "natural" beauty and such. Still not perfect, but better than the past.

But still, "brainwashing" isn't the term I'd use.

Originally Posted by Galedeep

The media has been using sex and sexualized images to sell sell sell for almost as long as most media has been around. I don't really agree with the term "brainwashing," because unless you are born and raised a complete shut-in, it's pretty quickly established that the real world isn't at all the way it is depicted in the media.

Sexualized images in the media does likely have some consequences, most people know that there was a lot of controversy over it causing eating disorders in young people who say the images portrayed in advertisments and on television and in movies as the "ideal" figure; but more often than not these days you see quite a number of ads marketing the idea of "real" and "natural" beauty and such. Still not perfect, but better than the past.

But still, "brainwashing" isn't the term I'd use.

I agree. Brainwashing isn't the right term. I'd say more heavily influencing, perhpas a bit of propoganda, but not brainwashing.

...I actually think it's quite the opposite. Sex remains a taboo because of the media.

It's an interesting topic to think about JoshCube, and I'd agree with you that Western media (not just American) is full of sex.

There's a fantastic series of documentaries called Century of the Self that discusses this idea to a degree. I think you can find it on YouTube or Google video, but it's the first episode that's most relevant.

One of the main figures that the documentary covers is a guy called Edward Bernays, who was an American propagandist during the First World War, and eventually went on to create 'public relations' and a whole range of modern advertising techniques. He was particularly interested in how he could move entire populations, and to an extent, control their behaviour. Fortunately for him, his uncle was Sigmund Freud, who was at the time (early 1900s) thought to be the authority on the human mind and the factors that influence our behaviour.

Freud sent Bernays his works, and Bernays subscribed to most of his uncle's theories. They both thought that underneath our conscious minds, the thoughts, feelings, emotions and impulses that we care aware of, there is an unconscious mind. This unconscious mind is home to all of the nasties that we don't want to know about, most of which are socially unacceptable sexual desires, repressed painful memories or aggressive impulses. Although we are not aware of what exists within the unconscious, the idea was that it isalways bubbling away and influences our behaviours in ways that we do not recognise. For example, people may act in ways that seem irrational, but they are attempting to partially satisfy their unconscious desires. In doing so, the unconscious as appeased, and simmers down a little.

So, Bernays read up on this, and applied it to the newly emerging American consumerist market. Rather than appealing to consumer's practical needs, he appealed to their supposed unconscious, emotional wants. Many of his most successful advertising campaigns were driven by psychoanalytic theory, and he was often called upon by companies who wanted to use Freudian psychology to promote their products. Of course, Freud's theories were heavily based on the sex drive, and so that's what you see projected onto these advertisements. In the same way that a dream can function as wish-fulfilment, so to could a new product.

A famous example would be car commercials, where advertisers pitched the product not as a practical commodity, but as a symbol of masculinity, power and dominance. It's quite funny to think about it now, but when you watch old car adverts, there is a LOT of phallic imagery. It always reminds me of the episode of Family Guy where Peter goes out and buys this enormous car, and he's driving it through the tunnels and it's the most cringeworthy thing ever.

These were the kind of ads that convinced Peter Perfect from the Wacky Races to buy his car.

Originally Posted by Nietzsche

...I actually think it's quite the opposite. Sex remains a taboo because of the media.

Really? The only abstinence videos I've seen are really crappy. Sure I believe in abstinence, but that doesn't come from school.

I'd like to know what bits of media you're talking about.

I think Aldous Huxley wrote a book about that idea this one time.

Originally Posted by JoshCube

America is brainwashing themselves into a cycle of lust and pleasure, which is what is causing the high divorce rate. This is just my theory, not a fact.

I never thought of it that way, but I think the rising divorce rate has more to do with the decline of arranged marriages, as well as the fact that within the past 100 years divorce has stopped being social/religious taboo.

Anyway, about sex in the media- I don't think it's brainwashing either, more or less because "brainwashing" tends to imply "conspiracy," and I don't really think there is one of those.

Sex in commercials, by the way, is less to make the viewer want to have sex and more to make the viewer want to buy the product, to make the viewer believe that by buying the product they will also be buying into the lifestyle (of having the perfect body and getting the perfect guy/girl.) But it's not just sex that's used to advertise a lifestyle. Ads targeted towards kids use fun and adventurous situation to entice potential buyers.

So yeah, I think the media does try to impress sex upon us- but more to get us to buy a product or watch a show than it does to "brainwash" us and make us slaves to their ideas. Unless you meant something else by "brainwashing?"

Originally Posted by Rhalen

Really? The only abstinence videos I've seen are really crappy. Sure I believe in abstinence, but that doesn't come from school.

I'd like to know what bits of media you're talking about.

How is sex still such a taboo if the media is "brainwashing" people? We still get the same "No sex!!111!!one!elven" messages from the news corporations and such. If sex were becoming more accepted & less vilified, the US wouldn't still be rallying against it.

Sex has been around longer than the media has. So, automatically, that means the media does in fact make it look like a taboo, since it was "normal" before. TV shows, movies, and books 80% of the time show the "horrifying" side of sex - unwanted pregnancy, STDs, etc. - to make the plot more interesting. It's rare to come across anything that has a sex scene in it where nothing bad happens.

The media can be blamed for making us think that models are the prettiest people we'll ever see, that sex is generally bad, etc., but I'll have to agree with Galedeep; it's not exactly brainwashing.

Also, that's really not why the divorce rate is so high. It's high because couples generally take "I love you" for granted, and whoever is the first one to say it to them has there heart. And they don't work out because they probably never loved each other in the first place.

Originally Posted by Evaline

Sex has been around longer than the media has. So, automatically, that means the media does in fact make it look like a taboo, since it was "normal" before. TV shows, movies, and books 80% of the time show the "horrifying" side of sex - unwanted pregnancy, STDs, etc. - to make the plot more interesting. It's rare to come across anything that has a sex scene in it where nothing bad happens.

Actually I think you'll find that unless you count things such as the Church and the Bible being the media, that's what initially made it look bad. Sex = dirty was taken as normal long before books as a standard publication and TV, papers etc.

I don't really see the media as doing anything that extreme, either in terms of making it taboo or more acceptable.

I mean, the only "Sex is bad" vibe that I ever get is from school. And that's not really the media, that's education. Sex is taboo because the people have made it taboo.

If the media is spamming sex on all of its shows, that generally means that it appeals to its viewers. Since TV shows and such are a buyer's market, we're really the ones that are putting sex on TV; the writers are simply complying to demand.

I mean, do you think that the people who developed "Sex in the City" thought it would be good because they loved putting pseudo-sex on TV? Of course not. They thought it would be good because people would love watching a pseudo-sex-related show on TV.

In my opinion, America is brainwashing themselves into a cycle of lust and pleasure, which is what is causing the high divorce rate.

That's a really, er, extreme point of view. People can't really brainwash themselves, unless I'm using the word incorrectly. Also, as someone else said, the high divorce rate is much more easily explained by the fact that divorce has become less of a taboo.

When I mean "brainwashing", I'm not exactly saying that America is turning everyone into some sort of zombie. I think they are secretly brainwashing to an extent. In other words, when the media keeps doing this, they are constantly sending messages to everyone's brains. If everyone's brain keeps on getting sexual messages from the TV, Computer, Movies, then I believe the more our brains will feed on it.

I talked to my brother about this and he agrees with my theory about how this might be the cause of the high divorce rate. I mean, think about it. Right now the U.S. has the highest divorce rate in the world, which I think is a bit strange. So in order to break it down, one would need to find out exactly "why" there is a high divorce rate here. I believe it's because the U.S. is spoiled with sex and pleasure.

I'm not saying that the media is secretly brainwashing 24/7, but IMO, they are the ones feeding the fire. For example, a lot of people now days get teased about their sexuality, such as in schools, work places, and other areas. I have talked to older senior citizens and they have claimed that it wasn't like this back in the old days. I pieced two and two together and it does make sense since the media was not that huge back when it first started picking up off the ground.

It does make a lot of sense. It seems that the media is somewhat controlling people in a way, but they are secretly controlling people. Another example is the lesbian stuff that's spammed now days. If you look closely, the media tends to spam lesbianism more than homosexuality. When the movie Brokeback Mountain came to plate, that was a serious wake up call. But then if we look at movies and TV shows, people don't make a huge deal when two women are going at it. If you look at society, more people seem to think that lesbianism is ok but homosexuality isn't.

That alone makes me think the media is controlling people, it's just that nobody can see it.

Originally Posted by JoshCube

When I mean "brainwashing", I'm not exactly saying that America is turning everyone into some sort of zombie. I think they are secretly brainwashing to an extent. In other words, when the media keeps doing this, they are constantly sending messages to everyone's brains. If everyone's brain keeps on getting sexual messages from the TV, Computer, Movies, then I believe the more our brains will feed on it.

I talked to my brother about this and he agrees with my theory about how this might be the cause of the high divorce rate. I mean, think about it. Right now the U.S. has the highest divorce rate in the world, which I think is a bit strange. So in order to break it down, one would need to find out exactly "why" there is a high divorce rate here. I believe it's because the U.S. is spoiled with sex and pleasure.

I'm not saying that the media is secretly brainwashing 24/7, but IMO, they are the ones feeding the fire. For example, a lot of people now days get teased about their sexuality, such as in schools, work places, and other areas. I have talked to older senior citizens and they have claimed that it wasn't like this back in the old days. I pieced two and two together and it does make sense since the media was not that huge back when it first started picking up off the ground.

It does make a lot of sense. It seems that the media is somewhat controlling people in a way, but they are secretly controlling people. Another example is the lesbian stuff that's spammed now days. If you look closely, the media tends to spam lesbianism more than homosexuality. When the movie Brokeback Mountain came to plate, that was a serious wake up call. But then if we look at movies and TV shows, people don't make a huge deal when two women are going at it. If you look at society, more people seem to think that lesbianism is ok but homosexuality isn't.

That alone makes me think the media is controlling people, it's just that nobody can see it.

Excuse me, but how is it possible the media is "Brainwashing" us to like something we already..you know..like? Sex is naturally enjoyable. The media just capitalizes on something we love. It isn't brain surgery. We're far from "over-sexed". And I don't see how we're "spoiled with sex and pleasure". Infact, if you know someone who is, I would like to know where they live, so I might also be spoiled with...sex and pleasure. Really now, there's no scientific basis to your argument, only hearsay.

I think it's absolutely retarded that in america, people wig out about alittle bush showing in a movie, and the stuff that gets an nc-17 rating is mostly sexual, while blood and guts and hate and violence and revenge are glorified in the movies.

also- in a society where often abstainance is taught as the only birth control, and kids are absolutely clueless about safe sex, it's rather counter-productive whent he media pushes "sex sex sex" all over the place.

at any given time on tv, you witness people having affairs, plotting revenge, blah blah blah... makes me angry.

Sex has always sold, as it arouses some of the most primal, arresting aspects of the human mind and nature.

The only aspect of this that bothers me is how exactly sex and sexuality is portrayed in much of the media. It is my belief that sex is only what you make of it, and thus has no inherent sanctity. To a teenager that knew little or nothing about sex or sexuality, they would likely try to "learn" from the media, and of one thing the media can be trusted in is that it will have the truth out there, but only in bits and pieces 'neath nigh endless layers of other bull**** and inane banter of products and what ought to be a particular way.

I'm annoyed that there are people who think sex in the media has to be stopped when they readily accept or ignore violence. Let's face it: One is productive, the other is destructive. If you're going to go down this road of censorship at all, at least deal with the universally bad thing before going after your religiously bad thing.
However I'd prefer nobody went about censoring things at all. It's a free society (Or it's supposed to be). Decide for yourself what you want to see, and don't force your morality on others.